Family Affairs
by Luriko-Ysabeth
Summary: Shaolan and Meiling (Hsiao-lang and Mei-ling; I use Wade-Giles rather than pinyin) have a talk on his wedding day. DARK.


Family Affairs  
  
When he came out onto the small side deck of the tastefully   
understated "wedding chapel," the tall Chinese woman was already there.  
  
She leaned against the rail, back to the gardens that had been   
judged too dangerous with the uncertainty of the day's weather, tunic   
and trews clinging to her figure.  
  
"I'm still surprised that you chose a Western-style wedding,   
Hsiao-lang."  
  
"I didn't choose it," Li Hsiao-lang said patiently. "Sakura did,   
and if it makes her happy... it's not as if we won't be going to Hong   
Kong and having a proper wedding there with the Li Family in   
attendance."  
  
"But not staying there," his cousin observed.  
  
"Sakura's not really comfortable with the idea of leaving   
Tomoeda," he shrugged. "I won't push just now. There'll be time enough   
to talk her into it later."  
  
"That's what I'm here about, actually."  
  
"Oh?" Hsiao-lang stiffened.  
  
"Your mother bids me tell you that you may have a year to woo the   
Mistress of the Cards into returning with them to the bosom of the Li   
Family, where they belong. More; two. But *only* two -- we have waited   
long enough to make Clow Reed's power ours, and the Head expects   
results."  
  
"I understand." He looked at her for a long moment. "You could   
still be part of the wedding, you know. Even now -- I'm sure Tomoyo   
could whip up something, especially as the bridesmaids are all dressed   
sort of differently."  
  
"Hsiao-lang." Her voice was angry for that one word, and then   
became firm and sad. "I supported this wedding. I plotted for it. I   
lied for it. I pushed you two together.   
  
"But do not ask that of me. I cannot stand smiling as you wed   
her. I'm not Tomoyo. I can't do it."  
  
"Mei-ling," he whispered. "I'm sorry."  
  
She took two steps forward and hugged him fiercely, as he   
murmured "I hadn't realized you still felt that way."  
  
"The needs of the Li Family outweigh the desires of its members,"   
she said into his shoulder. "I've always known that. Doesn't mean I   
have to like it."  
  
  
"Suppose someone -- " he finally said.  
  
"Hsiao-lang. I'm your beloved cousin, come to congratulate you on   
your wedding to the girl of your dreams. What could be more harmless?"   
Nevertheless, she let go and stepped back.  
  
"I just don't want Sakura to be hurt," he explained stiffly.  
  
"Neither do I," Li Mei-ling told him. "It's just as well that the   
Kinomoto waited so long to have their second child."  
  
He blinked. "How so?"  
  
"Well, if they'd had her earlier as Clow Reed planned, she'd have   
been only a year or two younger than her brother, and he wouldn't have   
had time to win over Yukito-san before she reached an age the moon   
guardian would find desirable. And if she were with Yukito-san, you'd   
have had to fight her for the Cards."  
  
"And?"  
  
"And I'm sure you'd have won, but she'd probably have gotten   
killed. This is better. Even if my children will not hold the Clow   
Cards in their hands."  
  
"Your grandchildren still might hold the Sakura Cards," he said   
softly. "If one of our children marries one of yours."  
  
"The Head has almost arranged a new marriage for me, in between   
marrying off her own daughters," Mei-ling half-accepted. "Too bad Yue   
woke up -- your sisters won't be able to use Yukito-san with his other   
personality active, and probably not Touya-san either. Not and handle   
Hiiragizawa."  
  
"Sakura wouldn't like that," her husband-to-be objected   
automatically.  
  
"She wouldn't have had to know about it... oh, well. Water under   
the bridge."  
  
"Even so... she might have found out, and it would have hurt her.   
Please don't say anything like that -- "  
  
" -- Around her? Li Hsiao-lang, do you think I'm stupid?"  
  
"No. No, it's just that I -- I hold her in the highest respect   
and affection -- "  
  
"You love her," Mei-ling shrugged.  
  
"Yes!" He nearly bit his tongue. "That is -- I don't want to hurt   
you, but Sakura -- "  
  
"Ever the dutiful son. You probably started arguing yourself into   
loving her as soon as Aunt Ye-lan read through our reports and ordered   
you to marry her instead of battle her."  
  
"It wasn't like that..." he protested.  
  
"You didn't love her before she came to Hong Kong that time," his   
cousin argued. "You were attracted, sure, and falling all over yourself   
denying it, but... well, it'll make it easy when you persuade your wife   
to leave her home and her family and her friends and join the Li   
Family. Even the most accomplished lie-detector can't detect a lie that   
isn't there."  
  
"You make it sound so sordid."  
  
"That's life, cousin... and you'll be devoting yourself to   
keeping the Card Mistress happy to be there. Not only could she cause   
considerable damage if she wasn't, I *like* Sakura-chan. I'd just as   
soon see her happy as not."  
  
There was a long silence.  
  
  
"I'm seeing to Tomoyo-chan for you," Mei-ling said eventually.  
  
"Seeing to?" Hsiao-lang repeated blankly. "She was the one most   
responsible for this wedding. She doesn't even have any magic."  
  
"*I* don't have any magic... and if she thought that you dead   
would hurt Sakura-chan less than the Li Family's plans for her, she'd   
sink a knife in your back in a heartbeat."  
  
"MEI-LING!"  
  
"You never did understand family affairs," Mei-ling said gently.   
"I like Tomoyo-chan, and for her sake, I hope that you are very, very   
persuasive when you convince Sakura-chan of the benefits of Hong Kong --   
if she thinks it's what will make Sakura-chan happy, she'll expedite   
matters. But even though I like her, I'll break her neck if the Family   
needs me to. They underestimated Clow Reed's value once. They won't do   
it again -- and bringing his creation safely into Li Family hands is   
more important than all of us."  
  
"Mei-ling -- "  
  
"I love you, Hsiao-lang. I've always loved you. But I am Li, and   
you are Li, and so you will marry for the honor and the prestige of the   
Li, and are lucky enough that your future wife is kind and gentle and   
will not drive you straight back into my arms.  
  
"Not that I would object, but it would be -- unwise to antagonize   
the Mistress of the Cards, particularly before she is safe pent up in   
the Li compound surrounded by our people."  
  
"I. Am. Not. Going. To. Imprison. Her," Hsiao-lang gritted.  
  
"Of course not," Mei-ling snorted. "But you will become her   
husband, and thus her lord and master. She will be happy to do what   
you want -- or are you implying that you aren't man enough to satisfy   
her?"  
  
Hsiao-lang turned bright red and sputtered for a moment.  
  
"But my elder sisters don't dote on the words of their husbands,"   
he managed finally.  
  
"Their husbands aren't Li," Mei-ling shrugged. "Except for   
Fu-die's, but he married in and does nothing but jump when Cousin   
Fu-die and Aunt Ye-lan say hop. Sakura-chan is marrying in. The allies   
of the Li Family will become her allies. The enemies of the Li Family   
will become her enemies. The needs of the Li Family will become her   
desires. And no one on the outside will ever suspect, any more than   
they suspect us now."  
  
"Mei-ling... "  
  
"To be sure, we're all being used, but the Li Family uses us from   
the day of our birth. Some of us, however, will be lucky enough to   
enjoy ourselves on the way down."  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
"Family affairs," she said, quietly, inexorably. "You aren't   
thinking of defying the Li in this matter, I trust. The Head schooled   
you well before your second exile in Tomoeda. You are a maiden's prayer   
and the perfect bait for a young woman of innocent mind and loving   
heart, the more so because so much of it is true. Sakura-chan will make   
the Li greater than they have ever been, and in return you will make   
her happy -- "  
  
"STOP IT!"  
  
The sound of Hsiao-lang's heavy breathing, slowly calming as he   
brought himself back under control, was terribly loud in the silence.  
  
"I am going back inside," he said, slowly, deliberately. "And in   
half an hour I will marry Kinomoto Sakura, because I love her, and for   
no other reason. And at some time in the future we will move back to   
Hong Kong, because it is my home, and for no other reason. And   
Kero-chan will come with us, and I do not know what we will do about   
Yue but we shall work it out somehow, and Sakura will use her power in   
Hong Kong when she shall so please, and for no other reason."  
  
Li Mei-ling looked at him for a long moment, and then she bowed,   
the low bow due some great official of the Imperial Court on first   
meeting.  
  
"I congratulate you," she said. "You manage to be both the   
husband of the Mistress of the Sakura Cards, with all the rights and   
duties thereto, and the son and heir of the Head of the Li Family, with   
all the responsibilities and privileges inherent in *that*, without it   
tearing you apart. And all you had to do was lose Hsiao-lang in the   
process."  
  
She turned and went down the stairs from the deck, calling one   
last addendum over her shoulder.  
  
"If you should happen to see him again, would you send him along   
to me?" 


End file.
